This year my youngest son’s teacher is talking to her class about the “just right book”.  This helps the children select books that are best suited to their reading ability and interest.  Children therefore focus less on the level that they are reading and more on selecting books that pique their curiosity.  There is freedom that comes with this for the kids.  In selecting their just right book, they select books that they prefer which often matches their competency level.  When we have a match between preference and competence we are in the right place.   

The thing with the just right book, is that it captures just right, right now. The book is selected based on preference and competence at that point.  As the kids read more just right books, their reading competence improves, and they move to the next just right book.  This may not always mean a more challenging level, but perhaps a lateral move from fiction to non-fiction, from one style of book to another.  The bar continues to shift.  What was the just right book last month, may not be just right this month.   

There are many similarities with how we may approach development in our teams.   We benefit and our team members benefit when we are consistently monitoring our team’s development, even at the most senior levels of our organisations.  What may have been perceived as a stretch or challenge six months ago, may not be the case today.  Conversely if what was set six months ago, was not just right at the time, it may be the case that we need to review what were the development intentions and reset the approach.  Disregarding this may leave your team member worse off, impacting their confidence and perception of their capability.   

Research confirms that there is a relationship between being able to perform and being ready to perform.  When we reach the optimum level of being and feeling ready, our performance peaks.  When we are either too ready (over developed) or not ready enough (underdeveloped) our performance diminishes.   

Just like Goldilocks, and my son’s teacher, we want our ability to perform to match our competence- and therefore we want it to be “just right”.    Some stretch in development room is great, but too much is not. 

What do you do to apply “just right development” in your team?  

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Rita Cincotta writes, mentors, and speaks about deliberate leadership. She works with organisations to develop better leaders that support people and businesses to thrive. You can download Rita’s new whitepaper, Deliberate Leadership here.